Backcountry.com, a high-end outdoor apparel retailer, was looking for a way to differentiate customer interactions in a tight competitive space. It chose to roll out a deep community-based merchandising strategy in order to connect its customers to its products and one another more deeply and authentically than the company felt it could do on its own. Backcountry.com employed product reviews that use a Q&A format, brand reps from the products it carries interacting on the site, and user-generated photos and videos. The company found success taking personal and individual product experiences and achieving higher conversion rates as a result.